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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23474779">When We Were Young</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/desertno3/pseuds/desertno3'>desertno3</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Twilight Series - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, platonic angst y'all, potential for a future pairing maybe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 06:55:07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,240</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23474779</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/desertno3/pseuds/desertno3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Jacob, Quil and Embry are your best friends and they have been for as long as you can remember. But things are changing.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>When We Were Young</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>You were sitting cross-legged on the floor of Jacob’s garage, watching him tinker with a motorcycle part, while you half-listened to Quil telling you both about the current girl he was infatuated with. You had to fight back a snort when Jake looked at you —  face scrunched in disgust — as Quil started going on about how hot she was. You both let him continue, though, because it felt like it had been forever since the last time you were all together like this.</p><p>Today was one of the rare days where Bella Swan wasn’t around so you and Quil had taken it upon yourselves to pester Jake and hunker down in his garage for the day. Not that he ever minded when you did. Since you were kids, you, Jake, Quil and Embry spent most of your summers hanging out in this very same garage when you weren’t out at the beach or traversing through the dense forests surrounding La Push. One summer in particular, when Jake had broken his leg and could barely make it out of the house on his crutches, you and Quil and Embry would visit every day bearing food and various games that would keep you all entertained as you sat in the garage together for hours — only realising just how much time had passed when you glanced outside to find the sky painted gold by the sunset or when one of your parents called the Black household to tell you it was time to come home.</p><p>Your heart lurched, thinking about those days. As you looked around the garage now, you couldn’t help but feel Embry’s absence acutely. You missed him. So many weeks had passed since he abruptly stopped hanging out with you all but the hurt you felt over his departure still hadn’t disappeared. You <em>knew </em>it wasn’t in his nature to just abandon his three best friends for a group of people he barely knew and yet that’s exactly what he had done. You couldn’t reconcile it in the slightest. Jake and Quil had long since stopped bringing the subject up around you, trying to avoid inciting the immense fury you had harboured towards Embry especially in the first few weeks after he left. The anger had since fizzled out but it left behind a deep sadness you didn’t think was ever going to go away. As you sat among your two remaining best friends, you wondered if there was anything you could have done to keep Embry by your side.</p><p>-</p><p>A couple of months later you would find yourself sitting next to Quil, the both of you heartbroken once again, in the wake of Jake leaving you both, without so much as an explanation, to join Sam and Embry. You were at a loss for what to do but, mostly, you were just sad. And hurt. Wounded by the way your two best friends had seemingly just cut you out of their lives like you meant nothing to them. You thought about confronting them but even if you wanted to, they managed to elude you in ways thought impossible considering how small La Push was. You had tried calling but immediately gave up on that method when you got sick of hearing the same thing every time: they were always out and almost always with one of the other boys from Sam’s crew. You and Quil had tried, to no avail, to come up with any viable reason as to <em>why </em>they had left you the way they did — and for Sam’s group no less. You didn’t know which scenario was worse: if they did it on their own accord or if Sam had forced them to.</p><p>“If Sam tries to get to you, you’ll tell me, right?” You ask Quil, breaking the sullen silence that had fallen over you both.</p><p>“He won’t get me,” Quil tells you, determined, but you watch him wring his fingers nervously and you can tell he’s just as worried about it as you are. “I’m not gonna disappear on you.”</p><p>“I still don’t get it, Quil,” you say. “Em and Jake… they’re not like Sam. They’re not the type of guys who would <em>want </em>to go and join that group. And… and even if they did, they would have said something to us about it.”</p><p>Quil shrugs, staring into the distance forlornly. “Maybe we just didn’t know them as well as we thought we did.”</p><p>The statement makes your blood run cold and you shake your head immediately, refusing to believe it. You think of Jake and of the way he exuded sunshine. Of the way he would always have all of you over at his place, shaking his head but smiling all the while at the crazy ideas that would come out of Quil’s mouth or at the stupid, pointless banter you and Embry would always get into. You thought of Embry and his shy smiles and quiet snark. Of the way he would light up when he started talking about car parts or when he and Quil found themselves in a particularly mischievous mood and you and Jake would inevitably be their unfortunate victims. You felt your chest ache with despair and you turned to Quil, shaking your head adamantly.</p><p>“We knew them better than anyone else did.”</p><p>-</p><p>Dread had washed over you when Quil told you through the phone that he was sick. In the silence that followed, he laughed and assured you that was all he was. Because he knew what you were thinking and he would have been lying if he said he didn’t have the same thought cross his mind. You both knew the one thing Embry and Jake had in common was that they were both sick a couple of weeks before they started running around with Sam Uley and his group.</p><p>The rational part of you knew that was probably just a coincidence but still, the mere mention of a fever was enough to send you into a panic. If what happened to Embry and Jake was anything to go by, Quil could very well go down the same path. You told him just as much and he brushed it off, claiming it was all just a coincidence.</p><p>“What does Sam Uley do? Recruit people when they’re at their weakest?”</p><p>“I don’t <em>know</em>, Quil,” you said, frustrated by the irrational fear that was building within you. “Just… keep me updated, alright?”</p><p>Despite his nonchalance about the whole situation, he called you regularly just to joke and let you know he hadn’t been approached by Sam yet. You rolled your eyes every time but, in all honesty, you always felt relief when he called. Then the time came when your landline hadn’t rung with a call from Quil in days and while the rational part of your brain told you he was either <em>too </em>sick or recovered <em>just enough</em> to forget to call, another part of you felt like you had just lost him too. You dialled his number and waited, your heart sinking with each ring that passed by. It reminded you of all the times Embry wouldn’t pick up and then all the times Jake wouldn’t either.</p><p>“Hello?”</p><p>You slumped forward in disappointment as the voice of Quil’s mother came through the phone.</p><p>“Hi, Joy. Is Quil home?”</p><p>“You actually just missed him,” she informed you in a jovial tone. “He’s gone over to Jacob’s.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I wrote this and yet it still hurts every time I read that ending, lmao.</p><p>This was originally posted over on Tumblr but I decided I'm going to post all my pieces here, too. A couple of people on there have asked if there's going to be a continuation to this and the answer is probably! If I do, it will most likely just be in the form of more one-shots instead of an official chaptered series, though. Stay tuned.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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